Friday, January 19, 2018

Finian Cunningham - Washington and Allies Go Orwellian on Korea Peace Talks

Finian Cunningham is one of my favourite reporters. I have emailed him a few times and he is very pleasant indeed. It looks like Washington doesn't want peace between North and South Korea.

Just as North and South Korea achieve important peaceful exchanges, Washington and its NATO allies appear to be moving with determination to sabotage the initiative for averting war on the East Asian peninsula.
The Vancouver summit also called for proactive interdiction of international ships suspected of breaching UN sanctions on North Korea. That raises the danger of the US and its allies interfering with Russian and Chinese vessels – which would further escalate tensions.
These reprehensible developments are a reflection of the increasingly Orwellian worldview held by Washington and its partners, whereby “war is presented as peace” and “peace is perceived as war”.
Just this week, North and South Korea held a third round of peace negotiations in as many weeks. Even Western news media hailed “Olympic breakthrough” after the two adversaries agreed to participate in the opening ceremony of the forthcoming winter games next month as a unified nation under a neutral flag.
After two years of no inter-Korean talks and mounting war tensions on the peninsula, surely the quickening pace of peace overtures this month should be welcomed and encouraged. Russia, China and the UN have indeed endorsed the bilateral Korean exchange. Even President Trump said he welcomed it.
Nevertheless, as the Vancouver summit this week shows, the US and its NATO allies appear to be doing everything to torpedo the inter-Korean dialogue. Issuing ultimatums and warning of “military options” seems intended to blow up the delicate dynamic towards confidence and trust.
Strategic Cultures

5 comments:

Tom Hickey said...

The really disturbing part of this is that the present push globally may be aimed at Russia and China as the real targets. The US elite knows that the handwriting is on the wall and that the window of opportunity is closing. If they don't "do" Russia and China, the US will loose control as the largest economy and sole superpower.

This is the Thucydides trap and it may be springing.

Both Russia and China are aware of this, too.

BTW, this is just Strategy 101. It's how these people are trained to think. It's comparable to how conventional economists are trained to think about policy.

It's up to politicians to restrain both of them from wreaking havoc. Good luck with that.

Tom Hickey said...

Trump wants small nukes.

It used to be that Russia was dependent on small nukes to deter superior NATO conventional forces.

Now that is changing, and the US military realizes that it can only deal with Russia through the small nuke option.

This is not a good progression. On the other hand, reliance on nukes make war less likely because Pandora's box.

Noah Way said...

Until somebody uses one, then all bets are off. Making them smaller just makes them easier to use.

Tom Hickey said...

Until somebody uses one, then all bets are off. Making them smaller just makes them easier to use.

You can bet that strategists on all sides are figuring out how to get the other guy to use one first.

bbbar said...

Watch out for US shenanigans during the Olympics. They are prone to using the Olympics to incite color revolutions and general mayhem (Georgian war of 2008, Ukrainian coup in 2014). They might try to launch some limited strike against North Korea this February hoping NK will be reluctant to retaliate against South Korea given the presence of so many foreign athletes there. While admittedly still an unlikely prospect it does fit the deep state MO.

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-appears-quietly-preparing-nuclear-war-north-korea-2018-1

"And though few expect the US to initiate conflict with North Korea while civilians from around the world gather in Pyeongchang to watch one of the world's most important sporting events, a satellite launch would provide a suitable target for a "bloody nose" strike, which the US is reportedly considering."